<sigh>... it won't stop a single terrorist or prevent a single case of identity theft or fraud, but it's an extra tax on law-abiding citizens and will provide yet more lucrative contracts for B.Liar's cronies.
And have you seen the remarks our thug of a home secretary made today - there will be no price drop for not having an ID card when you renew your passport, and he aims to make ID cards compulsory after the next election.

Aye, what a bunch of charlatans. Instead of empowering the people they are empowering a police state. That sick anagram "I am tory plan B" it would be better for us all if he and his henchmen just b*gg*r*d off. What we really need is a proper constitution and a bill of rights and responsibilities.
Apart from anything else, there is not a single government IT project that has been brought in; on time, in budget and fully working. Why should it prove any different now, initial tests on the biometrics are only 93% accurate, with such accuracy we will soon have to build more prisons for innocent people.

Oops, just read the rules of the forum and I think I might have overstepped the mark, so I humbly apologise but retract nothing

This, I fear, is the old Labour philosophy reappearing - control the population, don't let them have any real choices, monitor them wherever they go & whatever they do - the worst excesses of the nanny state and the old-style bully-boy unions rolled into one. 1984, but (in true British Government style) 20+ years late !

towy71 wrote: What we really need is a proper constitution and a bill of rights and responsibilities

The last bit of that should be repeated as loudly and as often as possible - a bill of rights AND responsibilities - too many people want the former without the latter.

I work for a very large Drinks retailer, and from that point of view ID cards will be a good thing, at the moment we are getting personal fines of 80 quid if we serve someone under 18, and get caught. The problem is theres no real form of ID that we can _expect_ people to have, a lot of people over 18 don't carry it.
OTOH I personally don't want them, I am not willing to pay for something that the government is making compulsory. I know they say they are voluntary, but imposing fines for not having them does not sound voluntary to me.
I heard someone argue the other day that Passports and Driving Licenses aren't free so why should the ID cards be any different? The reason is you dont _have_ to get a passport, you can just stay in the country. You _dont_ have to get a driving license, you just don't drive. The only way you can escape the ID cards in the end is to leave the country.
Its time the country sorted things out, ID cards _will_ not stop terrorism or fraud, so why make us pay out?

, and from that point of view ID cards will be a good thing, at the moment we are getting personal fines of 80 quid if we serve someone under 18, and get caught. The problem is theres no real form of ID that we can _expect_ people to have, a lot of people over 18 don't carry it.

But seriously folks, I have noticed in some shops now that they say they will not sell alcoholic drinks to anyone they believe to be under 21. Indeed all retailers have the right to refuse to sell, irrespective of whether age is the issue. But, of course, all retailers want to make money, which means they have to sell things. It must be a lot harder working for a large retailer where people can go over your head to complain.

We work on the policy if you look under 21 then we will ID you, problem is its actually rather hard to tell if someone looks 21 or not. Ive ID'd people and theyve pulled out a driving license saying their 27!
I am lucky in that our company will back you to the hilt with regards to ID, but OTOH if you fail a test purchase you get a disciplinary.

shifty_ben wrote:We work on the policy if you look under 21 then we will ID you, problem is its actually rather hard to tell if someone looks 21 or not. Ive ID'd people and theyve pulled out a driving license saying their 27! I am lucky in that our company will back you to the hilt with regards to ID, but OTOH if you fail a test purchase you get a disciplinary.

Actually I dont understand these drinking laws I recently went on a holiday to Europe and saw a lot of people who were about 16 all buying alchahol at bars etc. These people acted responsably with it too unlike over here where everyone just goes mad for it.

I think by giving it to people from a young age it actually teaches them responsability.